U.S. Pat. No. 8,282,176 B1, granted to Chen et al., discloses a locking mechanism for locking a slide rail assembly in the retracted state. The locking mechanism includes a stop, a locking member, a release member, and a resilient member. The stop is located at a first rail. The locking member is pivotally connected to a second rail. The release member has a window for receiving the locking member, wherein an inside of the window has an inclined surface corresponding to the locking member. The resilient member is in contact between the locking member and an inner edge of the window of the release member so as to keep the locking member corresponding to the stop. When the second rail is retracted with respect to the first rail, the locking member and the stop are engaged with each other, with the resilient member in resilient contact with the locking member. When the operation portion of the release member is pulled outward, the locking member is guided by the inclined surface of the window of the release member and thus pivoted out of engagement with the stop. In short, the '176 patent discloses an operation method by which to unlock a rail.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 8,297,723 B2, granted to Chen et al., discloses an interlock device configured for a slide rail assembly and including an outer rail, an intermediate rail, an inner rail, a base, a driving member, a stop, and a locking member. The base is fixedly connected to one end of the outer rail and includes a top room and a bottom room corresponding to the top room. The driving member is movably connected to the base and includes a driving portion, an engaging portion corresponding to the driving portion, and a co-moving portion between the driving portion and the engaging portion. The driving portion is located in the top room of the base and is partially exposed from the top room. The engaging portion is located in the bottom room of the base. The stop is connected to either the inner rail or the intermediate rail. The locking member is connected to the co-moving portion. When the inner rail and the intermediate rail are pulled out with respect to the outer rail, the driving portion of the driving member is pushed by the intermediate rail and thus retracted into the top room of the base. Moreover, the co-moving portion is moved from a first position to a second position to shift the locking member, and the engaging portion extends out of the bottom room of the base. In short, the '723 patent discloses an interlock device whereby, when a rail is pulled out, all the other rails to be controlled by the interlock device are kept from being pulled out at the same time.
If a slide rail assembly is to be unlocked and perform an interlocking operation simultaneously, however, the unlocking and/or interlocking operation may be ill-timed due to tolerances of assembly. In light of this, improvements were made to the prior art by the inventor of the present invention to bring about the invention disclosed herein.